Purpose: The aim of this study was to qualitatively review the literature regarding
occlusal schemes for complete dentures. Materials and Methods: An electronic
search was executed using PubMed (MEDLINE) with the aid of Boolean operators
to combine the following terms: “complete denture,” “occlusion,” “balanced,”
“lingualized,” “anatomic,” “flat,” “monoplane,” and “canine.” The search was limited
to English peer-reviewed articles published up to January 2012. The literature search
was supplemented by manual searching of relevant journals and the reference lists
of selected articles. Results: A total of 565 articles were retrieved; however, only 12
articles met the inclusion criteria. The included studies evaluated the effects of posterior
tooth morphology/arrangement and lateral occlusal guidance. In relation to morphology,
the posterior teeth were either anatomical or flat. The posterior tooth arrangements
showed conventional bilaterally balanced occlusion (CBBO), lingualized bilaterally
balanced occlusion (LBBO), or monoplane occlusion (MO). The lateral occlusal
guidance involved either balanced occlusion or anterior tooth–guided occlusion
(ATGO). Conclusions: Within the limitations of this review, it can be concluded that
anatomical teeth arranged in CBBO or LBBO are preferable to flat teeth arranged in
MO. This is primarily related to patient acceptance. ATGO can also be considered
for complete dentures. Int J Prosthodont 2013;26:26–33. doi: 10.11607/ijp.3168

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